1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for controlling the drive of a door lock device having a superlock mechanism which is effective for preventing robbery of, e.g., an automobile.
2. Prior Art
Conventionally, a door lock device is provided with a lock lever which is switched between a lock position where the door cannot be opened and an unlock position where the door can be opened when the door-opening handles on the inner and outer sides of the door are operated. A lock device is known which is provided with a superlock mechanism for preventing the lock lever from being switched from the lock position to the unlock position even when an inner lock button is operated to unlock.
There is known a door lock device having such a superlock mechanism from, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 5-59858. In this device, a rotating body is rotated clockwise and counterclockwise by a motor, and the projecting portion of the rotating body is engaged with an interlocking groove formed in a lock lever, thereby moving the lock lever between a lock position and an unlock position. Also, the projecting portion of the rotating body is located in a predetermined superlock position, and movement of the lock lever located at the lock position is restrained to achieve superlocking. In the apparatus for controlling this door lock device, when a shift between unlock and locked states is performed, power is initially supplied to the motor through a brush and a terminal used for starting. The power is then supplied to a brush and a terminal used for detecting the neutral position of the rotating body. When the rotating body reaches the neutral position, the terminal and the brush for said detection are disconnected from each other, thereby stopping power supply to the motor. To perform a shift from the locked state to a superlocked state, power is supplied through a brush and a terminal used for detecting the restraint position. Then, the terminal and brush are disconnected from each other, thereby stopping power supply to the motor.
As a means for controlling driving of the motor of a door lock device similarly having a superlock mechanism, there is known, for example, one having a microswitch which is switched from a contact A to a contact B when the lock device comes into the locked state. To perform a shift from the unlocked state to the locked state, power is supplied to the motor through the contact A. To perform a shift from the locked state to the superlocked state, power is supplied to the motor through the contact B.
However, in the conventional door lock device described above, when the superlocked state is disengaged, the locked state is also undesirably released simultaneously, and a function which performs a shift from the superlocked state to the locked state is not provided. Therefore, the present inventors have previously proposed a door lock device (Japanese Patent Application Nos. 5-326300 and 6-47684) in which only the superlocked state can be disengaged while the lock lever is held at the lock position.
The superlock mechanism of this proposed device has an arrangement in which a superlock member that switches between the superlock position and the disengaging position is displaced by a motor. When the superlock member is located at the superlock position, the inner lock button and the lock lever are disconnected from each other, so that the lock lever cannot be switched by the inner lock button.
The motor switches not only the superlock member between the superlocked state and the disengaged state but also the lock lever between the lock position and the unlock position. More specifically, when the motor is rotated clockwise, the lock lever is switched to the lock position first, and thereafter the superlock member is switched to the superlock position. In other words, the unlocked state, locked state, and superlocked state are desirably selected by controlling the rotating time or rotating amount of the motor.
However, since said proposed door lock device is rather different from the conventional door lock device described above, it is difficult to employ, as its control means, one obtained through a minor change of the conventional control means.